"I think, clearly, it's more like being a big fish in a small pond. In this region, we were quite well known for medical devices, but the pharmaceuticals and biotech industry wasn't there. And since TheraTech was one of the first ones and a lot of folks have since started companies that have either worked with me or been associated with me, you kind of get that title.

"I'm not sure how much I can claim. You know, with success, there has to be a lot of people involved in it. How can one person claim it? There are lots and lots of people who worked on it, worked with me, so I think if you have that win-win attitude, where everybody's winning, then you end up getting a lot of the attribution, whereas if you're trying to grab everything, you don't get it."

"He does not seek limelight and doesn't want to be in it," Paul Ahlstrom, a partner at vSpring, said of Patel, whom he described as kind, considerate and very patient, and, like many from his home area of India, "very understated but very astute."

"He has this unique combination of deep business understanding, so he has mastered principles in business, and he has world-class knowledge in the technology and science field and also on the spiritual side," Ahlstrom said. "While there are some people who are very kind and good, they might be ignoring the laws of economics, and while they might be very technical and might have business understanding, they might not have mastered the interpersonal relationships that are required — the spiritual and personal side. It's very powerful when those come together."

Richard Nelson, president and chief executive officer of the Utah Technology Council, which will induct Patel into its Hall of Fame this fall, described Patel as a visionary who "clearly sees the big picture" and an industry leader who is "credible because of his commitment to build the industry first with high-paying Utah jobs."

Like Ahlstrom, Nelson said Patel is "quiet" and "unassuming" and a man who "truly merits but doesn't seek the recognition."

"Dinesh is a man of few words and has tremendous insights and impacts in Utah. . . . His broad-based credibility allows him to move the needle as an effective change agent," Nelson said.

Born and raised in the central African country of Zambia amid Indians steeped in an entrepreneurial spirit, Patel set a simple goal early in life: to own his own company. After college studies in India and the U.S., he founded TheraTech in 1985 with a University of Michigan professor, Bill Higuchi, who had landed a job at the University of Utah.